Telephone system



8 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)y v

TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

No. 605,097. Patented June 7,1898.

n O t n e v. n TL Witnesses.

A tnorney.

'me Nonvus PETERS co.. PHOTO-uma. WASHINGTON. u. c.

- (No Model.)

- E. -W..HIAM.

5% Witnesses 34.

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Patented June 7,1898.

3 Sheets-Seet. 2.

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10.605,09-7. Patented'June 7,. 1898.

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MISE@ STATES? PATENT FFI@ TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

sPEcIFIcA'IIoN forming part of Letti-.rs Patent No. 605,(597, aateaquney, 189s.

Application flied April 22, 1897.

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that-1,' EDWIN W. HAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Worcester, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement irl-Telephone Systems, of which the following is a specification. y

My invention relates to a system of intercommunicating or connected telephones and the objects of my invention are to'provide a simple, efficient, and novel form of switchboard for use in connection with each oi' the telephone instruments and to combine said switchboard with a releasingV mechanism for cutting out the connections when the telephone instrument is not being usedw M- To these ends my invention consists of the parts and combinations of parts, as hereinafter described,and more`particularly pointed" out inthe claims at the end of this specification.

In the accompanying three sheets of drawings, Figure 1 is' a front view of a telephone instrument provided with attachments constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2

3 is a detail view of a `contact-piecewhich'I preferably employ in connection with the tele'- phone-hook for cutting out the switchboard connections when the-receiver of the telecuit-making devices and a single releasing mechanism cooperating with said plurality'of circuit-making devices. l

In its preferred construction my switchboard vcom-prises a base piece or plate,a plu'l rality of plunger's mounted therein ,each plunger having a conical operating-section and a detent or cone near its rear end for holding Serial No. 633,326. @o model.)

said'plunger in its operative position, two sets of" normally open spring-terminals engaging the conical sections of the plungers to normally force said plungers outwardly, and a movable stop-bar for engaging thecones or detents on the inner ends of the 'plungers -When the stop-bar is raised, the plungers will be released and will spring back to their normal position." To raise the stop-bar, I preferably employ apl'u'rality of releasing-magnets, which are momentarily energized by means of a contact-piece controlled by the telephonehook. The number of plungers or push-buttons employed in my telephonesystern,corresponds `witl1 the instruments thereim' the switchboards of the several instruments being connected-together by separate wires, which are wrappedtogether in the forni of a cable, two wiresfor'each' instrument in the system being employed.` 1

i Referring to the drawings and in detail, 10 designates the ordinary base-board or support, which carriesa battery-box 11 and a telephone-box 12.\ Extending from the tele- 'phone-box f 12is"the' calling-handle 1S, the 'transmitter 15,' fthe call-bells 14, the pushbutton 16,' controlling a strap-key for throwing in the callingI apparatus, and a receiver 17, which may be supported when not in use upo'n`tl1e telephone-hook 18. These parts may be ofthe ordinary or approvedconstructionfand""need not be hereiid'escribed at length.

Mounted inside of the telephone-box 12 in rial 23,' which is adapted to shift the contact-v piece '19, so that said contact-piece will have but amomentary contact withthetelephonehook. Q

Mounted'on the base-board 10 between the boxes 11 and12is one of my switchboards 24. The construction of the switchboard 24E is most clearly illustrated in the second sheet of drawings. Referring to said sheet, 25 designates a plate or support, which is preferably formed ol insulating material. Extending from the rear face of the plate or support 25 is a yoke 2t. Mounted in the plate 25 and the yoke Se are the plungers or push-buttons 27. The plungers 7 are provided near their centers with conical aetuatingsections 28 and at their rear ends have conical detents or catches 2). Secured upon the rear face ot the plate 25 are sheet-metal bars or strips 32, having integral spring contact-fingers 33, two of said spring contact-lingers normally cooperating with each plunger. The spring contact-fin gers 33 are arranged to engage the conical sections 2S and normally force the plungers or push-buttons upwardly. Coperating with the spring contact-lingers S3 and secured upon insulating-strips 35 are contactpieces 234-, which are normally out ot engagement with the spring contact-lingers 533. Cooperating with the catches or deteuts 2O is a stop-bar 30, which is movably mounted on screws 31. 3y means of this construction it will be seen that when a plunger or push-button 27 is forced in the spring contact-lingers will be brought into engagement with their corresponding contact-pieces 3l and the conical detent Q0 will engage behind the stop-bar 30, so as to hold said plunger in its operative position.

Secured upon opposite ends of the plate 25 are releasing-magnets 36 and 37. The pivoted armatures 3S of the releasing-magnets SG and 37 are bent up at their ends in position to engage the stop-bar i130. By means ot this construction it will be seen that when the releasing-magnets are energized the stopbar 30 will be released from the detents 2f) and the plungers or push-buttons 97 will be allowed to move outwardly to their normal position under the influence of the spring contaet-Iingers S33.

The manner in which a telephone instrument provided with attachment-s constructed according to my invention is wired up is illustrated diagrannnaticallyin Fig. f). As shown in this ligure, A designates a battery. D designates the ordinary induction-coil. E represents the strap-key for throwing in the calling-circuit. F designates the generator for energizing the calling-circuit, and a, l), and c designate the terminals which coperate with the telephone-hook 1S. These several instrumentalities are wired or connected in substantially the same manner as the ordinary telephone instruments, and the wires leading from said instrument are connected to two of the contact-pieces 3l ofthe switchboard 2l. The wires from the several contact-pieces 3l ot the switchboard are wound together in the form of cables G and H, two contact-pieces Si and two wires therefrom being employed for each telephone in the system. In addition to these connections a circuit from the battery A is carried around the releasing-magnets 3G and 37, which operate the stop-bar 30 of the switchboard. This circuit is arranged to be momentarily energized when the contact-piece 19 is acted upon by the telephone-hook, as hereinafter explained.

\Vhen it is desired to communicate with any particular telephone in the system, the push-button or plunger corresponding therewith is pushed in. This will close a circuit with said instrument through the wires or cables G and ll, and a call can be sounded in the ordinary way by pushing in the strap-key plunger 1G, operating the strap-key E, and by turning the handle 123 to operate the generator F. lVhen the call has been sounded7 the receiver will be taken Yfrom the hook in the ordinary manner, which will leave the hook free to rise, so that the piece of insulating material 23 carried by said hook will turn the contact-piece 10. The person answering the call at the receiving end of the line will push in the push-button or plunger whichcontrolshisownlocalinstrument. This will connect the two telephones, so that the conversation can be carried on as desired. Then a receiver is replaced upon the telephone-hook 1S, the hook 1S will move down in the ordinary manner an d momentarily will come in contact with the contact-piece 19, closing a circuit through the releasing-magnets 3G and 37 of the switchboard, so that said releasing-magnets will raise the stop-bar and allow the push-button or plunger which has been forced in to again assume its normal position. The further downward movement of the telephone-hook 1S will bring the insulating-piece again into engagement with the contact-piece 10 and will carry said contact-piece out of engagement with the telcphone-hook 1S, so that the parts will again assume their normal position.

ln some eases instead of employing electrical connections for operating the stop-bar 30 from the telephone-hook 18 I contemplate employing mechanical connections between these parts, and I have illustrated such a construction in Fig. 10. As shown in this ligure, the telephone-hook 18 is pivotally connected to a link llO, carrying a gravity-pawl l1. At its lower end the link l0 is connected to an inclined link lll. A lever 4:2 is pivotcd so that the gravity-pawl may have a slight engagement or bearing on one end thereof. At its opposite end the lever l2 is connected by a link 43 with the releasing-bar 30. By means of this construction it will be seen that as the telephone-hook 18 moves down the pawl 441 will act upon the pivotcd lever l2 until said pawl is carried away from the end of said lever by the action of the inclined link ll, which action will first raise the stopbar 30 and will then lower the same to again resume its normal position.

l am aware that many changes may be made in the construction and arrangement ot parts of my telephone system by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of my invention as expressed in the claims.

IOO

IOS

IIO

I do not wish, therefore, to be limited to the forms which I have shown and described; but

What I do claim, and desire to secure by ALetters Patent of the United States, is-

1. In a telephone-switchboard, the combination of a base-plate, a plurality of plungers mounted therein, each plunger having a conical operating-section and a detent for holding the same in its operative position, two

spring-arms engaging the conicalI section ot" 19, a telephone-hook and a piece of insulating material mounted on said telephone-hook, said parts being arranged so that the piece of insulating material will lift the contact-piece when the telephone-hook rises, and so that said piece of insulating material will move the contact-piece out of engagement with the telephone-hook afterthe same has had a momentary contact therewith when said telephone-hook is moved down, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a switchboard comprising a base-plate', a plurality of plungers mounted therein, each plunger having a vconical section, and a detent for holding said plunger in its operative position, two normallyopen spring-terminals engaging the conical section of each plunger to normally force said plunger outwardly, a single stop-bar engaging said detents, releasing-magnets having armatures arranged to actuate said stopbar, and connections for energizing said magnetsfrom a telephone-hook, substantially as i described.

4. The combination of a switchboard comprisin g a base-piece, a plurality of plungers mounted therein, each plunger having a conical section and a detent for holding said plunger in its operative positionytwo nor-V mally open spring-terminals engaging the conical section of each plunger to normally force said plunger outwardly, a single stop-bar engaging said terminals, and releasing-magnets for operating said stop-bar, a telephone-hook, and a contact-piece cooperating therewith to momentarily energize said magnets, substantially as described.

5. The combination of a switchboard comprising a base piece or plate, a plurality of plungers mounted therein, each plunger having a conical, operating-section and a detent for holding said plunger in its operative povsition, two normally open spring-terminals engaging the conical section of each plunger to normally force said plunger outwardly, a

single stop-bar engaging said detente, and releasing-magnets for operating said stop-bar, atelephone-hook, a contact-piece cooperating therewith, an insulated, operating-piece carried by the telephone-hook, said parts being arranged so that when the telephone-hook rises, the contact-piece will be moved into position to momentarily close a circuit through the magnets when the telephone-hook is again moved down, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto-set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWIN w. HAM. Witnesses: Louis W. SOUTHGATE,

PHILIP W. SOUTHGATE. 

